Towel-service device



May 5, 1925.

5. B. FETHEROLF TOWEL SBRVIGB DEVICE Fil-Od J58. 12, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Arrow/0o",

Patented May :3, 1925,,

at orrics.

li T

$TEPHEN B. IFETHEROLF, E CINCINNATI, OHIO.

'IGXVEIr-SEHVIUE DEVICE.

1 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN l3. FETIIER- OLF, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and invented certain new and useful Improvements in T'owelfiervice Devices, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, reference'being had to the drawings forming part of this specification,

- My invention relates'to devices for dispensing towels, embodying the features of my portable locked holder for towels, as shown in my Patent-7N0. 1,289,428, dated December 31, 1918, and in additiomcertain new 'methods of mounting the holder, and other improvements in towel service racks or cabinets.

In the service devices of the past with which I am familiar where any sort of holder for towels has been used, on which the towels are strung, there has been provision for removal of one towel at a time, by means of enforcing on the towel a tortuone path which would make the removal of more than one towel difficult, or else,as in a coin operated dispensing machine, there has been a positive bar against removal of more than one towel at a time.

His the object of my invention to provide for a towel service device, in which the towels are strung on a supporting rod, and while left fully available to the user, yet the removal of more than one towel at a time is prevented by enforcing upon the towels a restricted passage for removal thereof. It is a furtherobject of my invention to do away with any necessity for a specially attached tab or wine; on a towel, by means of which it is withdrawn, or any special manner of folding up the towels, or

the like.

According to my invention, the towels are )referably strung on a rigidrod, in a bundle, and one or more obstacles placed in the path of removal, which. would tend to clamp more than one towel on the rod.

This structure, and my objects above noted I accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts to be herein after more specifically pointed out and claimed.

In the drawings,

lligure l. is a perspective view of one form State of Ohio, have of 210k and obstacle, illustrating my invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional View taken vertically through the device shown in Figure 1.

Figure 8 is a perspective view of the ob-' stacle or path restricting means employed in the devices of Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of another form of my invention.

Figure 5 is a like view of still another form.

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken vertically through the structure shown in Figure 4., the section being taken on the line 3, 3, of Figure 4. 7

Referring first to the device shown in the first three figures, it will be noted that I provide a cabinet having a front 1, a removable top 2, a base 3, and a hinged or movable door a, at one side thereof.

The holderfor the towels, being that shown in my patent above referred to, is a tube 5, having a flange 5 and through which tube passes a chain 6. The towels 9 are strung on the tube at the laundry, and the chain is left permanently in the tube. The two ends of the chain have eyes 7 which are too large to be drawn through the tube, and to one eye I preferably secure a snap hook 8 of ordinary construction.

The other eye of the chain is fitted with a padlock 7 by the operative who strings the towels on the tube, and thereafter, without cutting the towels, or breaking the chain or look, the only person who can remove the towels from the holder is the possessor of the key to the padlock.

The towels 9 are transported to the user, who is equipped with one of the cabinets strung and locked on the holder.

In the side of the cabinet, opposite the door, is a hinged flap which swings upwardly, when the lid of the cabinet has been lifted off, and in this flap is a hole through which the tube is placed, with its end protruding through the back of the cabinet,

The floor or base of the cabinet has a notch in one edge thereof, to permit the chain to pass vithout interfering with the closing of the door. The chain is then brought around the base of the rack and upwardly behind it, where the padlock is engaged by the snap hook.

lilounted likewise in the hinged flap re ferred to, is a piece of wire or the like, having two arms 10, 10, with threaded ends which extend through the flap, to be secured by nuts 11. These arms extend forwardly over the top of the tubular holder, and thence are bent down at 12, and thence up into a loop 18, which preferably straddles the end of the tube.

The space left open by the loop 13, the space through which the towels must pass in being removed, and the portions 12 and 13 prevent the entire bundle or any substantial part of it from moving along with the towel withdrawn, except to the amount which will conveniently pass through the said loop.

The reason for the hinged flap is that it facilitates placing the bundle in the rack. Thus the operator raises the top lid, if one is employed, and swings up the flap carrying'with it the structure 10, 12, 13. He then inserts the bundle into the cabinet, with the rod in place therein, but. of course, not inserted in its hole in the flap. He then swings down the flap to bring the hole to proper position and thrusts the rod therein, after which he proceeds with the chain, as above indicated.

It should be noted as of the essence oi this construction that it embodies a rack, a holder for towels which sustains them therein, and means for confining the path of removal of the towels so as to etlectually and practicaly prevent the removal o1 more than one towel at a time.

Its special features are the side loading, with the towels entirely con'lied within the cabinet, and the simple form of looped rod wh ch acts as the path confining element.

The other structures shown are developments of this idea in another form, in an open rack, although the essential features of the device described above could readily be adapted to an open rack, with the bundle sustaining rod extending forwardly toward the user.

In the form shown in Figures 4. and 6, there is a wall panel 20, to be hung on the wall, with a board or base 21 extend'ng forwardly therefrom. At one end of this base or both ends, may be mounted small boxes 22, which will serve as containers for comb and brush, soap and the like.

For some inches away from tl e wall panel, the board 2]. will be cut away, as at 23, and a cross piece 24 erected which will serve as the mounting piece for the tube in the towel bundle, as indicated in the first construction.

hen the towels are placed on the rack, they are flung over the cross piece and the tube inserted therein. At the front of the rack, and behind which the bundle is set, are two uprights 25, 25, which are inthe shape of angle plates screwed to the base of the rack. These uprights acts as the obstacle to towels coming oil the base in a bunch, since the withdrawal of more than one towel will result. in the catching on the uprights.

I have shown the uprights as spaced quite far apart to indicate the limits which can be used in spacing of the obstacle or path confining means.

In the n'iodilicat-ion in Figure 5, the wall panel 20 and base 21 are used, but the wall panel has the hole for the towel tube, at 30, and the towels hang down from this rod, rest ng normally against the base. The uprights are used, but the base is not cut away, and there is no cross piece.

In both of these last mentioned modifications, the racks are shown as equipped with screw eyes 31, to which are hung snap hooks to receive the chain padlock. The eyes also hold a small chain 82, which passes up and is hooked into the end of the rod, to hold it against slipping out through the hole.

In the devices of Figures 1, 2, and 3, the towels themselves hold the hinged flap down, and eflectually prevent the sliding of the tube out of the hole therefor. And in any event, the attaching of the padlock to the end of the tube, will serve to prevent withdrawal beyond a certain point, so as to prevent its falling out of the hole.

I do not desire becz use of my description of several modifications above to at all exclude from the scope ot my claims that to!" low, the full range of equivalents to the structures claimed therein, wherever such interpretation is possible. The devices described are merely ones which I have en'r ployed with success. All of them possess refinements of structure which would not be necessary in a simple and cheap device, since the only real essentials are some sort of holder, or stringer, and a device for preventing the removal of more than one towel or at a time, due to a constriuztion ot the path of the towels between the bundle and the point of use.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a towel cabinet of the 'chara;tcr described, the combination with a support, ot a rigid stringer for towels deniountably secured t0 the support, said stringer having a depending element extending the efrom. over which the towels are drawn for use. and a confin ng member to keep the towels on the support, comprising a piece of wire connected to the support at its ends and ex tending outwardly above the stringer and then formed into a pair of depending loops lying across the towel bundle at two points and thence passing in a single loop over the top of the stringer, as and for the purpose described.

STEPHEN B. FETHEROLF.

CJI 

